Duration of untreated psychiatric illness and its correlations in patients attending a tertiary care psychiatric facility: a cross-sectional study

Introduction: Duration of untreated psychiatric illness is an important component of the final pathway to care for patients. Longer the duration of untreated illness, poorer is the prognosis. Aim: To determine the Duration of Untreated Illness (DUI) along with its correlates, to thus evaluate the pathway to care at our setup. Settings and design: A retrospective cross-sectional study including 228 patients with psychiatric illnesses done at a tertiary care general hospital with a psychiatric setup. Materials: Semi-structured proforma for socio-demographic details, psychiatric diagnosis, duration of illness and duration of untreated illness. Statistical analysis: Sociodemographic details were mainly descriptive and categories compared using Pearson’s Chi square test. Results: The mean age of patients was 36.13 years (Standard Deviation (S.D.) 15.06). The mean DUI was 57.53 months (80.21). Excluding patients with Alcohol Dependence Syndrome (ADS), mean duration of illness was 51.58 months (S.D. 75.50) and DUI was 33.77 months (S.D. 49.11). Mean duration of illness for ADS group was 176.19 months (S.D. 101.20) and DUI was 165.90 months (S.D. 103.07). There was significant association of DUI with occupation (P = .039) and residence (P = .006). While 127 (55.70%) of patients showed to a psychiatrist at first, seventy (30.7%) patients went to faith healers first. Conclusion: It took about 5 years on average to reach a psychiatric facility, which was higher in patients with ADS. Awareness regarding illness model of ADS and other psychiatric disorders along treatment availability may improve DUI and lead to better prognosis.